Healthy Habits to Lose Weight And Maintain Your Results Effortlessly
Weight loss is a desirable goal for many. The problem is, most people fail to achieve noticeable results. Plus, many of the ones who make a change end up returning to old behaviors and erasing their progress.
But what if there were simple and effective tactics to lose weight? And what if there were a way to maintain our results with much less effort?
The truth is, there are habits we can adopt, so let’s talk about them today.
- Eat More Slowly
The first habit sounds simple enough, right? It is. Eating more slowly is one of the best tactics you can adopt to control your food intake better, lose weight, and keep the results.
Eating slowly is beneficial because satiety takes a while to set in. If we eat too quickly, we are more likely to overeat before we get a chance to feel full. As a result, we end up going from hungry to stuffed in a matter of minutes.
- Avoid Distractions While Eating
How often do you find yourself eating while watching a TV show, scrolling through social media, or learning something on Youtube? While it can certainly be pleasurable to eat and entertain yourself, doing so leads to mindless eating.
According to some research, distracting ourselves while eating prevents us from gauging our fullness, making us more likely to overeat. In contrast, focusing on the meal helps us see how much food we are eating and use self-regulation to stop eating at the right moment.
- Drink Some Water Before And During Each Meal
Water is the essence of life, and drinking enough of it offers two distinct benefits:
First, it helps us stay hydrated, feel good, and remain productive throughout the day. Second, it can help us feel fuller without eating as much.
In one paper from a while back, researchers set out to examine the effects of drinking some water shortly before eating. Men had to drink 500 ml of water (roughly two glasses) and women – 375 ml (1.5 glasses).
Compared to subjects who didn’t drink water before eating, those who did consumed fewer calories and felt more satiated.
- Include Protein With Each Meal
Protein is a nutrient with many essential functions in the body. Among these, protein is responsible for:
- Muscle repair and growth
- The production of antibodies, neurotransmitters, hormones, enzymes, and more
Protein is also crucial for satiety, as research suggests that the nutrient helps us feel fuller than if we were to eat the same amount of carbs or fats. Good protein sources include:
- Meat and poultry
- Fish and seafood
- Eggs
- Cottage cheese
- Nuts and seeds
- Protein powder
Having some protein at each meal is a great way to feel more satiated and lower your calorie intake without thinking about it.
- Learn to Eat More Veggies
Like protein, veggies are valuable for our health and weight loss efforts. First, veggies are low in calories but voluminous. Meaning, they fill us up well without adding many calories to our daily intake. Most people can freely consume kale, spinach, asparagus, cucumbers, and similar veggies without worrying about weight gain.
Second, veggies are rich in fiber, which is vital in our satiety and digestive health. It takes longer for fiber to go through the stomach, so having more of it makes us feel fuller between meals.
